Multiple Family Members With Epilepsy

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This group is dedicated to more than one person in a family with epilepsy. This can be a father with epilepsy with a child/children that has epilepsy, mother with epilepsy with a child/children, or more than 1 child in a family...etc.

I haven't been able to read this for a few days and now I can again. The ones I have read are all awesome. I did just do a local story and it printed in the local paper. A couple family members…Continue

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Hello. I just joined this group and have read some of the comments. It is very frustrating to hear about physicians (especially those who specialize in epilepsy) denying the hereditary nature of epilepsy. I was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy in my teens. My maternal grandmother has had epilepsy all her life and took phenobarbital (she lived until the age of 96). My oldest daughter, now 29 and my son, 27, have both had seizures. My son's symptoms came on in his teens, which is common for this condition, but have not persisted and he is currently medication and seizure free. My daughter, however, has the same diagnosis that I have, and now, I learn that my maternal first cousin's daughter (14) has been diagnosed with a very serious type of epilepsy.

No matter what a handful of physicians might be saying, there is no question that some types of epilepsy is hereditary.

I guess I should clarify a few things about my seizures. Initially I was diagnosed with temporal lobe seizures at the age of 49 after I was exposed to toxic chemicals. I had only a couple episodes & had subsequent EEG's, but never showed any further seizure activity (even after medication was stopped). I was off of seizure meds from 2003 until I had a grand mal seizure during sleep. I had a back injury & had taken a muscle relaxant that night. I thought initially it was the stress of the day (my son's wedding). Six months later, my back was still hurting & I had been diagnosed by this time as having a herniated disc. My back was hurting really bad, so I decided to try a muscle relaxant to see if it would help. That very night, I had another grand mal seizure. I have no recollection of anything, other than waking up to see my husband standing over me with a worried look on his face. I decided to see an epileptologist to see if maybe the muscle relaxants were causing the grand mal seizures. There is no history of anyone in my family (up until now) having epilepsy. I had more tests & no signs of seizure activity noted on any test. My epileptologist has even told me they don't always know what causes seizures. I only know that both times I had a grand mal, I took the muscle relaxant for my back. I no longer take the med for fear of having another seizure. My epileptologist has put me on an XR Levetiracetam just in case. About 6 months after I had my 2nd grand mal, my son (who is almost 30) had 1 in his sleep. He had never had any signs/symptoms either & all of his tests have come back normal. Why can't they figure out why we are having these? I would think that some type of abnormal electrical waves would show up on EEG's or something would show up on tests to give a cause. We have had the usual MRI, EEG's, sleep studies & a few more that I can't remember. I understand that epilepsy can be hereditary (even though my doctors disagree) but isn't it rare for it to start at our ages?

I am looking for input that even my epileptologist can't figure out. I began having grand mal seizures in 2011 (age 57) during sleep & now my adult son (28) has also started having the same type of seizures. My epileptologist said seizures are not hereditary & all tests come back normal for both of us. Any advice would be appreciated.

It has been five months since my brain surgery. I have not had a seizure since then so I am glad I did have the surgery. I am not working yet and I am on disability. I think I will start with a part time job and move into more hours as I am more confident. I hope that works out.

My father has epilepsy. My 5yo daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy this past Monday. It seems to have skipped a generation. I don't really know if my daughter inherited epilepsy or not. I'm still hopeful that my daughter will grow out of it, even though my father clearly hasn't.

Hello my name is Angela and I come from a family of 10 where 5 of us have epilepsy and 5 do not. I have epilepsy. I should say 9 now, my brother Mickey bless his heart died when he was 17 due to complications from epilepsy. I have 2 more sisters with epilepsy and another brother with epilepsy. It is tough growing up with siblings who don't have epilepsy even as adults they seem to act as if we were treated special and got more attention. I love my sisters and brothers. My grandmother had siezures but niether of my parents do so for our family it skipped a generation. All of us are grown up and are married and have children of our own. My children don't have epilepsy as of yet but could still develop it. My son is almost 18 while my daughter 16. They have had testing and it is my daughter they are more concerned with for her EEG shows some abnormality to it but she has never had a siezure to date. I am praying she does not either. One of my sisters 2 children have epilepsy and she herself has it. One son has not had a siezure since he was 12 so they think he out grew it while the other has a severe case of epilepsy. I feel for her. Sometimes I feel that as much as epilepsy is hard to live with it is also a blessing to me because it is part of the reason for who I am and I like who I am and without it I don't know who I would be?

I have two children with epilepsy. Both of my children are adopted and not biologically related. My son ( 3 yrs) had his first seizures as a baby. My daughter (6 yrs) had her first seizure a month ago. Both have other mild special needs.

this is a very future possibility...my brother was rushed to the ER a couple of years ago with symptoms that resembled a seizure but was not diagnosed as epilepsy or seizure disorder of any kind. My great grandmother had seizures and has skipped a generation ever since then...I have lots of cousins that have seizures